


Always (I'll be there)

by Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa)



Series: Eirlyssa's 2019 Bingo Fills [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Because Sunset Bain, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Mentions of Underage, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Valentine's Day Fluff, and a little angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 16:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17707970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirlyssa/pseuds/Iron_Eirlyssa
Summary: This was their first Valentine's day together, and they both wanted it to be perfect. Which was also why Bucky worried when Tony didn't show up for their planned date. Despite everyone else telling him that's just what happens with Tony, even if he doesn't mean to, Bucky refused to believe that Tony actually forgot.Turns out, he's right.





	Always (I'll be there)

**Author's Note:**

> My first fill for this year's Tony Stark Bingo, square T2 - Always. I hope you all enjoy it!

Tony hadn’t ever liked Valentine’s day, really. It meant something, sure, but not usually something good for him.

It was supposed to be romantic and sweet, but that wasn’t really his experience. Even when he’d been young, he’d watched his parents exchange perfunctory gifts that said they loved each other, while every other day of the year they’d been distant at best (photo shoots of course excluded - couldn’t have people thinking they weren’t in love, after all). But he’d also watched Jarvis and Ana, and the two of them, well… Back then, he’d hoped to one day find a love like theirs.

By the time he was in college (too young, too innocent) he hadn’t been at all sure he’d ever find something like that. People just weren’t interested in him that way - they wanted money, or fame, but never Tony himself.

He’d thought Sunset was different. They’d been together and they’d been in love and their first time together was a Valentine’s day where she’d poured him glass after glass of wine until he’d hardly been able to do anything but lie there.

Two days later, he’d found out that she’d been going around his room for blueprints after he’d fallen ~~unconscious~~ asleep.

After that crushing realization, he’d shrugged off Valentine’s day and its implications. He was fine with being used - he could just use people right back, get some kindness and affection even if it was fake, and as long as he _knew_ it didn’t mean anything, he could deal with it just fine. So he made sure that, whatever he was doing the rest of the year, there was no one around on the 14th of February. No use in giving any wrong impressions, after all.

The first time he’d come close to considering spending the day with someone had been Pepper. Finally, there was a relationship that was serious, that wasn’t about someone wanting to _use_ him, and he wondered if she’d be able to restore some of what Valentine’s day was supposed to be like. If anyone could, it would be her, after all.

But they hadn’t lasted. After that disastrous Christmas and everything that had happened with Killian, she’d confessed she simply couldn’t do it. She loved him, but she wasn’t able to deal with the superhero lifestyle. And while he understood (hell, _he_ sometimes wasn’t sure if he could deal with the superhero lifestyle, but he owed it to the world to make up for what he’d done) it was still utterly painful. Even more so had been the sudden distance between them, a shock after they had grown so close after the years.

~~And if it felt a little like he ruined everything he touched, well… How much of a lie was that, really?~~

He still couldn’t believe how much his life had turned around since then. It had felt like he was heading for an abyss, like he was spiraling into darkness faster and faster with no way out. But then there had been Bucky, who was all of his dreams put together and then some. Bucky, who had suffered and been stuck in the darkness for years, but who still felt like the brightest, most beautiful thing in his life. To be honest, despite the fact that they’d only been together for a little less than a year, Tony already _knew_ that he wanted this to be forever.

It wasn’t even the fact that nothing was ever wrong - they’d had arguments before. But the fact that, for what seemed like one of the first times in his life, those arguments had actually been dealt with in a healthy manner was something that meant more to him than he could express, and it was one of many, many reasons that he thought they could actually work out.

With that in mind, he’d determined that he wanted this Valentine’s day to be absolutely _perfect_. Because Bucky deserved no less than perfect.

❤ Always ❤ 

Rather than trying to arrange for a restaurant reservation and possibly dealing with people trying to take their picture and overhear them, Bucky and Tony had agreed to have a romantic early dinner in the Tower, followed by a movie and hopefully romantic stargazing together after, if the weather permitted it.

And Bucky was there, and he noticed that the table had been set and the food (which Tony had ordered from some fancy place that he swore served the best pasta he’d ever had) had been delivered.

But Tony wasn’t there.

Frowning, Bucky resolved to wait a little longer. He was a little early, after all. But he couldn’t deny he was a little worried, especially since they had arranged to meet in Tony’s penthouse.

“Hey JARVIS, do you know where Tony is?” Eventually, he gave in. If nothing else, JARVIS would be able to tell him if Tony had gotten lost in some sort of invention or another. It didn’t tend to happen that often - even when it did, JARVIS was good about warning him that he was close to missing a date and he would come rushing in, workshop clothes still on and hair adorably messy, apologizing for being late. Bucky kind of loved those moments, where Tony was still half on a creating high and didn’t have to work anywhere near as much on letting down his shields. (Dates after press conferences were the ones he disliked most.)

“Sir is not in the Tower at the moment, Sergeant Barnes,” JARVIS informed him.

Bucky hummed. That made fairly little sense, considering it was now… yeah, six minutes after their date should have started.

Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he sent off a quick text. _Hey doll, you alright?_ Then, for lack of anything to do, he grabbed a vase from the kitchen, putting the bouquet of red asters he’d brought for Tony in there. Hopefully this wouldn’t take so long as to have them dry out, but it was probably better to be safe than sorry.

Ten minutes and two increasingly worried messages later, he still hadn’t gotten a response from Tony. He was pacing by now, mind going over possible reasons for Tony to be this late. None of them were good.

“JARVIS, could you please ask the others if they know where Tony is?”

Three more circuits through the room and he got his response. “Ms Potts, Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff would have me assure you that Sir often forgets dates, even if he does not want to. Agent Barton and Mr Wilson both agreed and think that he should be there soon, though neither know this with any certainty. Dr Banner suggests he might have lost track of time.”

“So none of them know?” Bucky confirmed.

“Indeed.” To be honest, JARVIS himself didn’t sound too happy about this either.

Focusing on breathing deeply, Bucky tried to calm himself. The others _were_ right in that he’d forgotten dates before. But, well… Tony never had forgotten dates with _him_. And he knew it might sound self-centered, thinking he was so much more important to Tony than anyone else.

That wasn’t all, though. Back in the beginning of their relationship, Tony had been _extremely_ honest with him, in that he told Bucky every single bad thing his previous partners had ever told him. (Bucky had seriously considered murder or maiming of each and every single one of them. And while he was very certain he could be careful enough that no one would know, he was also very certain that Tony was smart enough to notice anyway. And he didn’t want the sad puppy eyes.)

In response, Bucky had very honestly told him it was understandable, that he wouldn’t judge or get too angry, and that he would take it into account by reminding Tony or having JARVIS remind him. And he personally thought that being understanding and patient had actually helped, because Tony might have run a little late sometimes, but he’d never _missed_ a date.

Until now.

Twenty minutes in, Bucky _knew_ something was wrong. Tony still hadn’t responded to his messages, and he’d never been this late without at least telling JARVIS to let Bucky know that something had exploded and he needed to go through a decontamination shower first (two times. He’d managed that two times).

As he tried calling Tony’s phone (though not expecting any more result than his messages had gotten) he told JARVIS to ask the others again if they knew anything, including where Tony had planned on going.

Of course, there was no response. And of course, the only thing JARVIS told him was that everyone was pretty certain that Tony had simply forgotten.

Clenching his jaw, Bucky left the room, heading down to Tony’s workshop. As he was on his way there, he addressed JARVIS. “Alright, we’re gonna get illegal. Get any street cams you can find - we’re tracking him down. Code JBB-239874.”

“Immediately, Sergeant Barnes,” was the instant response, and there was a sense of relief to JARVIS’s mechanical voice. He did not have permission to do anything illegal without express permission of someone else, and Tony had made very sure to limit the people that were allowed to give him those commands to the people he trusted most in the world. To have been given his own code meant a _lot_ to Bucky, especially considering he still had trouble trusting himself sometimes.

The doors to the workshop opened the moment he approached them. Unlike most other times, the ‘bots didn’t come driving up, chirping happily at the company. Instead, they remained to the sides as screens started lighting up.

“I am working on tracking Sir’s activity,” JARVIS informed him. “He left the Tower today at 12:34 PM.” Sitting down in Tony’s chair, Bucky watched carefully as Tony headed out - he was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, a jacket on top and sunglasses. From the looks of it, he’d been intending to get back to the Tower well before their date in order to change.

So far, Bucky wasn’t seeing anything odd. Tony seemed relaxed, excited even, doing that adorable near-skip that only came out when he was happy.

JARVIS worked in the background on getting into the next set of footage as Bucky watched everything that had been provided - Tony picking up lunch for himself, eating as he moved on to his next destination. It seemed a fairly nondescript house, which he entered for about twenty minutes, from the numbers on the camera. When he exited, he was carrying a bag that Bucky noticed was holding what looked like a wrapped present. Still, he appeared utterly relaxed as he moved on.

His next destination was the chocolate store whose chocolate-covered fruits Bucky absolutely _adored_ , though he didn’t indulge himself too often. Gods, he loved that man.

Through it all, though, he couldn’t see anything that gave an indication for what had gone wrong. From the looks of it, Tony was out making final preparations for the date they had planned in a few hours, appearing excited. He kept grinning at the bag he was holding, and his happy half-skip just melted something in Bucky. The only reason he found himself unable to smile at how adorable his boyfriend was, was the fact that he _still_ hadn’t returned to the Tower, and it appeared that something had gone very wrong.

There was one more stop, a flower store that Tony exited with a huge bouquet of white roses and blue asters that nearly had Bucky crying.

That didn’t stop the sinking feeling in his stomach from growing, though. Tony had not forgotten, and the timestamps indicated that this was about the time he should be heading back to the Tower.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, JARVIS spoke up. “I have found it.” The images in front of him sped up, showing Tony indeed heading back to the Tower. Then they slowed in time, just as Bucky noticed the nondescript dark blue van driving up beside him.

It didn’t take long. Clearly, they had been well-prepared. Within less than ten seconds, they’d injected Tony with something, put a bag over his head, and dragged him and his purchases into the van.

Clenching his jaw, Bucky got up from the desk chair. “Follow that van and update me on whatever you find,” he told JARVIS, no doubt redundantly. The AI was probably already tracking whatever he could find in order to get Tony back home safely. Bucky was going to do whatever it took to help, though.

The earpiece to connect him to JARVIS was the first thing he put on when he got to his rooms. Then, he changed out of the relatively fancy suit and into his combat gear.

“Do you wish for me to inform the other Avengers?”

“No need,” he told the AI, his determination obvious. “I’m gonna find him, and I’m gonna bring him home.” He was the _Winter Soldier_ , after all. He might have considered letting the others know so they could assist, but the fact that they’d all assumed Tony had forgotten made him rather unhappy. After all, he still remembered Tony telling him his entire list of ‘why you should not be dating me’. Attitudes like that couldn’t have helped, and these were supposed to be his _friends_.

In the unlikely event that he was unable to deal with things on his own, he could always have JARVIS alert the others. He didn’t think it was all that likely to be necessary, though, especially because he was _definitely_ pissed enough to take on some assholes on his own.

Grabbing the bike that he and Tony had worked on together - Tony’s first gift to him, actually - he was soon on his way. He hadn’t expected it, but a bike actually made it a little _less_ noticeable who he was. Tony had just smiled when he’d mentioned it, informing him that his whole ‘leather aesthetic’ (his boyfriend’s words, not his) actually fit with a bike, making him blend in more, which… It did make sense, of course. Give people what they expected to see and they were far less likely to notice you.

“The van is shown to be headed west, into New Jersey. I will inform you the moment I know more.”

With JARVIS’ voice in his ear, he navigated the traffic expertly. They might have a bit of a head start, but they wouldn’t wish to be noticed, which meant they were stuck acting like any other vehicle on the road. Bucky, on a bike and with JARVIS informing him of any police vehicles nearby, had no such constraints.

By the time JARVIS told him that the van had driven up a road that had no more cameras and what looked like an abandoned apartment building (though the AI did offer to hack into a nearby satellite in order to keep tracking to be sure), Bucky was only thirty-seven minutes away. Considering they had taken Tony a little over an hour and a half before, he’d done good in catching up.

“You have an incoming call from Captain Rogers,” JARVIS told him.

A tiny part of him wanted to ignore it, but he knew how Steve got over him. (And it was probably the fact that Tony was currently kidnapped and not a _single_ one of the others had been all that concerned about him, but he just wished that more people appeared to care for Tony than just the AI he had created and Bucky himself.) “Alright, put him through.”

“Bucky, where are you?” Steve’s concerned voice sounded over his headpiece.

“Out,” he told his friend, not elaborating at all. He might’ve had JARVIS put the call through out of courtesy, but that didn’t mean he had to be _nice_ about it.

On the other side of the line, Steve sighed. “Look, I know it must feel terrible, but he doesn’t do it on purpose, you know?” For a brief second, Bucky didn’t get it. Then Steve kept talking, and anger coursed through him. “It’s most likely he just got absorbed in something, distracted or something - nothing against you in particular, he’s done it with most of us. We can hang out together instead if you want, no need to get out of the Tower if you got angry or anything, though I do understand.”

“No you don’t,” Bucky nearly growled, beyond pissed. A tiny part of him acknowledged that Steve was actually trying to make excuses for Tony, trying to be a good friend in his own way, but it rankled that this was the way all of them thought about his boyfriend.

“I get that you’re angry, and I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be - hell, you’re in a relationship, he could at least remember dates - but going out on your own isn’t gonna help. We’re here for you, you know?”

Revving up the bike a little more, Bucky clenched his teeth. “Well, start trying to be there for _him_ sometimes. J, end call.”

“Wait, Bucky, wh - ”

“Thirty-two more minutes,” JARVIS informed him, voice neutral even though he must’ve heard all of that. “Take the next right.”

Attempting to calm himself down, Bucky took a deep breath. It was just a mystery to him how all of them seemed to _try_ to be friends to Tony, but they all got it so _wrong_. They just didn’t have any faith in him, not the way they should. He wondered to what extent they still bought into that bullshit report of Natasha’s - hell, he wondered how much she actually bought into her own bullshit report, because she didn’t seem to do a whole lot better than the rest of them most of the time.

More than ever, he was grateful at the fact that he _had_ seen past all of Tony’s shields, to the kind of man he _really_ was. Hell, most of the time all he needed was for someone to just have a little faith in him, and yet it seemed like no one was ever able to give him even that.

Bucky was going to make up for it, though. He was going to save his boyfriend, and Tony was going to be fine, and then they were going to fucking celebrate Valentine’s day even if he had to drive his boyfriend to the other side of the country to make him happy, because Tony deserved _all the happiness_. And Bucky was the lucky bastard who had snagged him before anyone else had realized the kind of treasure they’d proclaimed ‘pretty but worthless’, and he was going to laugh in all of their damn faces when they eventually realized what they had all missed.

Finally, JARVIS told him he was closing in on the road the van had taken. “Whatcha think, leave the bike there or drive a bit closer?” he asked the AI, checking out the area.

“I am uncertain as to whether they have a guard up and, if so, where they might be located. It might be best to secure your motorcycle out of sight and approach on foot,” JARVIS advised.

The building itself didn’t look like much - a ragged ‘FOR SALE’ sign had ‘SCHEDULED FOR DEMOLITION’ plastered across it - but Bucky noticed the people stationed around it as he snuck closer. They might have been idiots to kidnap his boyfriend, but they weren’t _complete_ morons.

Or so he thought.

All of his muscles clenched up when he heard gunfire start from inside the building. That didn’t sound like they’d had a whole lot of success keeping Tony where they wanted him, at all.

Drawing his own gun, he went for the knees and elbows of the people outside. As an Avenger, Steve had told him that murder really wasn’t the preferred option. And, well, Bucky knew very well that sometimes death was really kinder than whatever he could do to them. So he’d just shrugged, mentally rolled his eyes, and determined that if he couldn’t kill people, he’d make sure they wouldn’t walk or hold a gun again.

He suspected that Steve, Thor and Bruce were the only ones who hadn’t caught onto the fact that this wasn’t a whole lot of kindness. (He also suspected both Natasha and Clint had gotten the same speech and were just as happy to permanently incapacitate their enemies - one didn’t make it in the spy business for long while being kind, after all.)

Having taken care of all the guards outside, Bucky carefully approached the door. There were still occasional blasts of gunfire, but increasingly, there was just silence.

Weighing his options for a little, he actually decided to stay outside, telling JARVIS to have the police called in. As much as he wanted to go inside and take care of Tony, help him out, he was by no means unaware of his boyfriend’s skills with guns. And he just _knew_ that the rest of their Valentine’s day would be entirely ruined if Tony ended up feeling guilty over shooting him while thinking he was one of the kidnappers, even if he was able to get his arm up in time to guard himself from any actual injury.

Perhaps he should have brought some date things. A picnic blanket, some of the food they’d ordered (which was currently going bad on the table, probably - he’d completely forgotten to put it away) and maybe a bottle of wine. He felt like Tony would’ve appreciated the faith, as well as the humor in the gesture.

It was a little like making popcorn, he figured. By the time he hadn’t heard any gunfire for a full ten seconds, it was about as likely that things were done. “Hey doll!” he called out, loud enough there was no way Tony wouldn’t hear him. “You almost done in there?” And if it had the added advantage of drawing any possible leftover kidnappers to him instead of Tony, well, that was only the cherry on top, wasn’t it?

They must’ve taken care of all of them, though, because it didn’t even take a full minute before his gorgeous (and slightly beaten up - he _should_ have killed them) boyfriend walked out the door, gun in his more than capable hands and looking at the wounded kidnappers Bucky had left spread across what looked like it had once been a pretty neat lawn.

“Bucky,” he said with a smile, sounding a mix of surprised, awed and happy. Then he winked. “Lovely meeting you here.”

Barking out a laugh, Bucky walked up to him, pulling him into his arms. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” he joked back, looking Tony up and down. If it was also a way to check on him, well… he figured that if Tony didn’t object, he obviously didn’t mind all that much.

There were a few bruises, a cut on one of his cheekbones, and one of his wrists was bleeding from what Bucky guessed had been Tony freeing himself of the ropes they’d tied him with, but overall he didn’t look too bad. His breathing was no different from usual, which tended to be Bucky’s primary concern, and he was walking alright.

“When did you get here?” Tony asked, not moving away from the hug still. He might have ended up saving himself, but he was clearly still shaken.

“I was walking up when the shooting started, really. Then I figured it might be better to stay out of the way and deal with the ones out here.” He was careful not to focus completely on Tony, remaining aware of their surroundings in case there was any danger approaching. None of the kidnappers looked like they would be getting up anytime soon, though. “I did have J call the cops out here to pick them up, though. Or at least what’s left of them.”

Tony chuckled a little. “I mostly incapacitated the ones inside, too. Though in the interest of none of them bleeding out, I hope the cops will be here, soon.”

“It shouldn’t take them too long - I can hear sirens in the distance.” His hearing was better than most people, and it’d be a couple of minutes till they got there still. “Just hoping they brought along the ambulances as well.”

“J usually knows to call them too, so that should be fine,” Tony told him with a shrug.

Calling in the police wasn’t usually the response of most of the other Avengers, and Bucky knew that SHIELD was less inconvenient for them. He still didn’t quite trust SHIELD though, even after HYDRA should have been weeded out of there - considering Fury was still in charge, Tony had never blamed him for that.

It did take some time, but apparently JARVIS had done quite a bit of the informing already, because the police had fairly few questions for them. (He had also, apparently, found a legal video of the kidnapping, so that dealt with a lot of problems as well.)

“Where is the van?” Tony asked them, just as they were winding down and things were starting to look like they would be able to leave soon.

Bucky frowned. “Why’d you want the van, doll?”

“... My Valentine’s day presents are still in there,” Tony ended up confessing, the slightest hint of a blush crossing his cheeks.

As usual, that blush just about made Bucky melt. The officer that had been talking to them smiled happily, insisting that he would head over to the van to get Tony’s things. It didn’t take long before he returned, a somewhat regretful look on his face. While the bag appeared fine, it was clear that the flowers weren’t. Half of the flowers had bent and a lot of them had fewer petals than they should have.

When he noticed as much, Tony looked rather sad. Bucky squeezed him close. “It’s fine, doll,” he told his boyfriend softly. “Hell, I didn’t bring any flowers at all.”

Fortunately, the joke was enough to make Tony chuckle, lightening up his face. Despite the fact that they’d given him stuff to clean his face, the cut stood out, surrounded by a steadily darkening bruise, but Bucky tried to ignore it the best he could. The last thing anyone wanted was for him to go on a murdering spree, after all.

A quick look into the bag had Tony smiling, so apparently whatever was in there was still alright.

Bucky led Tony over to the bike, pulling the other helmet from the saddlebag. His boyfriend just stood by the bike, though, looking at the helmet in his hands almost sadly.

“Tony?” Bucky asked, gently.

Then those deep brown eyes were aimed right at him, and Bucky really didn’t like the sad look in them. “I’m really sorry about all of this,” Tony told him dejectedly, looking down again. “It was supposed to be this awesome day, and now it’s…”

“Hey, doll,” Bucky interrupted him, putting a gentle hand on his chin to invite Tony to look him in the eyes. Once he did, Bucky smiled gently at him. “This wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t something either of us planned, but that’s just how life is, right? We just gotta make the best of it. And hell, I’m with you - that’s already pretty awesome to me.”

Soft lips touched his, a kiss far more affectionate than most others thought Tony was capable of. Bucky tenderly wrapped his arms around the shorter man, deepening the kiss ever so slightly. He meant it, with all of his heart. Things were going to go wrong, but as long as he had Tony by his side for it, it was more than worth it to him. He’d been so hopeless before, thinking things could never be better - thinking that even if they did, he didn’t _deserve_ better. That had changed with Tony, who had been by his side and helped him out of the darkness when he hadn’t been able to find the way. He hadn’t only helped remove HYDRA’s conditioning, but he’d also helped Bucky feel _human_ again, working alongside him on the bike they were about to get onto until Bucky started feeling real. It hadn’t been hard, after that, to fall in love with this wonderful man.

With a sigh, they pulled away from one another. “Making the best of it, huh?” Tony smiled softly, and Bucky made a decision at that very moment.

“Making the best of it, yeah. And I’ve got just the idea.”

❤ Always ❤ 

Not twenty minutes later, the two of them were at the Delaware Water Gap, having picked up burgers for takeout. With some help from JARVIS, Bucky had found the two of them an isolated spot to park the bike and enjoy the view as they had a slightly improvised romantic dinner together.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Tony laughed. He’d happily devoured his own burger and was now munching on his fries between sips of his milkshake.

Bucky, on his third of five burgers, grinned at him between bites. “Awesome, isn’t it? Not exactly like planned, maybe, but still awesome.”

“Yeah…” Now Tony smiled softly, taking in the nature around them before looking back at Bucky.

The love was so obvious in his gaze that it took Bucky’s breath away for a moment. He knew Tony loved him, of course. Neither of them was hesitant about expressing it, not after they’d gotten together. But Tony’s eyes were so _expressive_ that it never stopped astonishing Bucky - he never wanted to see those eyes in pain, would murder whoever put tears into those eyes.

Once they were both finished with dinner, they sat side by side, looking as the sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon. It seemed strange how it had only been a few hours since their date had been supposed to start, feeling like it had been much longer.

“You know, I did bring dessert,” Tony hinted, totally relaxed by now.

Humming softly, Bucky looked down at him. “You did, huh?”

“And a present, even.”

It was only because Bucky knew him so well that he was able to tell that Tony was actually insecure about whatever present it was that he’d brought. He recalled watching him go into the house, coming out with the bag holding a wrapped present, and he found himself curious.

Still, he didn’t want Tony feeling uncomfortable. “You know being here with you is already the best present I could’ve wished for, right?”

Most people would assume Tony never blushed. Those people had never watched him react to genuine feelings. Honestly, Bucky thanked the gods every day that he was the one blessed enough to have the privilege of being Tony’s boyfriend, being the one to draw out those absolutely adorable blushes and shy smiles that no one else thought him capable of.

“I… That is… Same, you know that, right?” Tony seemed almost desperate when he asked that, and Bucky gently kissed him.

“Trust me, doll. No way I couldn’t know.”

Now it was Tony kissing him, fierce in a way that had very little do do with passion and a lot with how much he loved Bucky. He was unable to resist pulling Tony into his lap, needing him as close as possible and loving the steady weight that proved that Tony was there, that this was all _real_.

They kissed for several long minutes, before pulling apart ever so slightly, breathing heavily. Bucky couldn’t help but smile blissfully. Even after being together for nearly a year, kissing Tony never stopped feeling as new, as _bright_ as the first time.

“So… present?” he eventually broke their mutual silence.

“Huh?” Tony muttered, still appearing somewhat dazed (and didn’t that just make Bucky’s heart beat faster?). “Oh, yeah. Present.”

Fortunately, they’d left their stuff nearby, so all Tony had to do was just lean over to grab the bag. The first thing he took out was the chocolate-covered fruit, putting it down on the picnic table. Then, there was the wrapped present, oddly shaped and lumpy.

Bucky took it carefully, not wanting to damage anything. It wasn’t too heavy, and seemed soft. Curiously, he started pulling at the wrapping paper, starting neatly at the edges. (He’d been raised in the Depression, alright, wanton destruction still really wasn’t his thing.)

As he was unwrapping it, Tony started rambling in his lap. “I hope you like it. I mean, I ordered it specially made, so it’s unique, just for us. But if you don’t like it, I can get something else, of course. It’s just that these past months with you have been so amazing, and I wanted you to know how much I appreciate it, and how much I love you, and, well, _everything_ , really…”

“Oh, doll…” Inside the wrapping paper was a pair of the softest teddy bears he’d ever touched, one of them with an Iron Man suit and the other dressed in the Winter Soldier’s outfit, though both their heads were uncovered. Between the two of them, they were holding a heart, the word ‘Always’ stitched on with care.

He stared it for several seconds before noticing that Tony had stopped breathing in his lap. When he looked at his boyfriend, he could see his trepidation. The genius was already opening his mouth, no doubt to offer to buy him something else, like a private island or something, so Bucky interrupted by once again pressing down on Tony’s already kiss-swollen lips. This time, he was the one trying to communicate all of his affection, all of his love for Tony and his present.

When he finally pulled away, Tony smiled hopefully up at him. “That means you like it?”

“I love it, doll. And I love you. So, so much.”

“Good,” Tony sighed with relief. “I mean, you deserve all the best presents, but apparently small and personal is better than giving you an island, and I wanted to do this right, you know?”

Bucky chuckled. He loved it when Tony rambled, especially when they were happy rambles. “I know. I mean, I kinda regret not bringing your present now, but I swear it’s right there once we get back to the Tower. I just hope you love it as much as I love this.”

“It’s from you. Of course I will,” Tony told him, so sincere that Bucky couldn’t help but fall even more in love with him.

One soft kiss later, and he smiled down at Tony. “I love you, doll. Always.”

“Always,” Tony whispered back, the same kind of promise in his voice, before moving back in for another kiss. And another. And another.

It took them a long while to get back to the Tower to celebrate the rest of their first Valentine’s day together, but neither of them minded. It might not have gone the way they’d planned it, but they were _together_.

Always.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. Also feel free to come check out my [Tumblr](https://eirlyssa.tumblr.com/). A very happy (early) Valentine's day, and remember: you are loved!!


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